About

The Powhatan Creek Trail in James City County links to a number of historic sites along its path including the Tomb of the Unknown Patriot Solider of the American Revolution, the Church on the Main and Mainland Farm.The path is accessible to walkers, joggers and bikers.

During the Revolutionary War Battle of Green Spring, which took place in the fields and woods near Church on the Main on July 6, 1781, American forces under the command of the Marquis de Lafayette engaged the army of British Lord Cornwallis. Surviving soldiers on both sides fought again a few months later at the decisive Battle of Yorktown, 16 miles to the east, which concluded with the British surrender on October 19, 1781.

The human remains enclosed in the Tomb of the Unknown Patriot Soldier of the American Revolution were discovered in 1978 by archaeologists from the Virginia Research Center for Archaeology on the nearby Harris Plantation, three-quarters of a mile to the west of Church on the Main. It was there that the most intense combat action took place. The soldier was hurriedly buried where he fell, in a shallow pit, clothed in his waistcoat and breeches, but lacking a coffin.